Normally, when a work is created and shaped into a certain physical form, the author or owner will register for copyright protection to protect his or her rights and interests. However, not every author or owner will register copyright protection for their work immediately, but for some reason or an act of copyright infringement, they may register for copyright protection. Therefore, the question is: How are published works registered for copyright?
1. What is a published work?
According to Clause 7, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law, “A work is a creative product in the fields of literature, art, and science expressed in any medium or form”.
Publication of works is a moral right and one of the important contents of copyright. The author (in case he is also the owner of the work) has the full right to publish, disseminate, or let others publish and disseminate his work. When publishing a work, the author also has the right to choose the form and type of art appropriate to that work. According to Clause 8, Article 3 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP detailing several articles and measures to implement the Intellectual Property Law on copyright and related rights, “Publication of works and performances has been fixation, audio recording, or video recording means the release with the consent of the copyright owner or related rights owner of a copy of a fixed work, performance, audio recording, or video recording under any form in reasonable quantities sufficient for the public to access depending on the nature of the work, performance, audio recording, or video recording. A work of art or architectural work is considered published if the work is placed in a public place with the consent of the copyright owner for public access and can be copied.
Therefore, it can be understood that a published work is the release of copies of the work to the public by the author or owner of the work, in a quantity sufficient to meet reasonable public demand depending on the nature of the work.
2. Legal issues
2.1. Can published works be copyrighted?
According to Clause 1, Article 6 of the Intellectual Property Law, copyright arises from the moment a work is created and expressed in a certain physical form, regardless of content, quality, form, or method. medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered. Therefore, copyright registration is not mandatory, and immediately after completion of the work, even though copyright registration procedures have not been carried out, copyright still arises from that moment.
In addition, the work here must be original, created by the author himself, not copied or imitated by other works, and be concretized in a certain material form that will be protected by copyright.
Vietnamese law does not require that a created work be immediately registered for copyright because the work itself already has copyright from the moment it is created. Therefore, published or unpublished works, as long as they are shaped in a certain material form, will be registered for copyright. However, registration will prove and protect the rights and interests of the author and owner as follows:
- Registering copyright protection will mean declaring legal ownership of the work, and avoiding other illegal profit-making activities. If others want to use or copy, they must have the owner’s consent.
- A work, in addition to its spiritual value and accompanying commercial element, if such acts of copyright infringement continue to occur, is truly an injustice to the author who has used it. His gray matter creates works.
- In reality, proving ownership when it has not been registered for protection is very difficult. Especially works that were created a long time ago. This is an important reason why copyright must be registered. Through copyright registration, a Registration Certificate will be issued, which is the most important document to prove the author and owner of the work.
2.2. How to register a copyright for published works?
Currently, the Intellectual Property law does not specifically regulate the steps to register copyright owners for published works but only regulates the registration of copyright owners for works. In general, according to Decree 17/2023/ND-CP detailing several articles and measures to implement the Intellectual Property Law on copyright and related rights dated April 26, 2023. The registration of copyright owners for published works will follow the procedures stated in Articles 38 and 39 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, and the registration dossier will include: including:
- Copyright registration declaration (according to the corresponding form in Circular 08/2023/TT-BVHTTDL dated June 2, 2023, Circular stipulating forms for copyright and related rights registration activities).
- Two copies of the copyrighted work: 01 copy kept at the Copyright Office and 01 copy stamped with the Registration Certificate number and returned to the subject to whom the Registration Certificate was issued.
- Power of attorney or authorization contract, in case the authorizing party is an individual, the authorization document must be authenticated according to the provisions of law.
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of the co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned.
- Identity card or citizen identification card of the author or owner of the work;
- Copy of the company’s Business Registration Certificate (if the owner is a company).
- Other documents depending on each case.
However, when registering the copyright owner for a published work, you need to pay attention to filling out the information in the Copyright Registration Declaration. Accordingly, for the registered works section, there will be two forms that need to be filled out: published and unpublished. For published works, the published section will be filled in. Here, the author and owner must fill in complete information about the date of publication, a form of publication (a form of issuing copies such as publishing, recording, video recording), place of publication in province and city, and which country providing accurate and complete information in this section will be the basis for Copyright Office experts to review and evaluate the work in the best way, to optimally ensure the rights and interests of the author and owner property.
3. Conclusion
More and more authors and owners are now registering copyright for their published works. Therefore, understanding the legal regulations is very necessary.
Above is the article: “How to register a copyright for published works?”. I hope this article will help you.
